TRANSACTIONAL MODEL OF

DIRECT INSTRUCTION IN

TEACHING FILIPINO II

RICHELLE R. NAONAO

Researcher

Stage 1 - ASSESS

Introduction

Filipino is expected to be one ofthe easiest subjects to understandsince this is our national language. Butbased from the periodical test resultswith mastery level of for first to thirdgrading, I can say that pupils still showpoor performance even if the subjecttaught uses our national language.

One of the factors to be consideredis the type of instruction used in teachingthe subject. The competencies are skill –based, thus the type of instruction to beused must also focused on the skillreflected in the competency. The firststep I did, was to write lesson plans usingDII (Direct Interactive Instruction) as themodel and following the K to 12competency (Competency +Assessment + Activity)

Models based this approach arebased on a combination of operantconditioning and information learningtheories and is called – The TransactionalModel. The primary purpose ofTransactional Model is to focus on therepeated interaction of teachers andstudents throughout the lesson. This isbased in research showing that theincrease teacher/student interaction iscorrelated with increase studentachievement (Roseshine, 1979).

Research Questions

Will the Transactional Model of

Direct Instruction improve the: Teachers’ teaching competence?

Pupils’ classroom interaction?

Pupils’ study skills?

Pupils’ test scores?

Pupils’ involvement to classroom/ school

activities?

Stage 2 - ANALYZE

The researcher used the TMDI

(Transactional Model of Direct

Instruction) with the DII (Direct

Interactive Instruction) as the

method in making lesson plans.

The researcher used the TMDI

(Transactional Model of Direct

Instruction) with the DII (Direct Interactive

Instruction) as the method in making

lesson plans.

The term “Direct Instruction” refers to

a rigorously developed, highly scripted

method for teaching that is fast paced

and provides constant interaction

between the student and the teacher

(Seigfried Engelmann, 1968).

Direct Instruction is probably

the most popular teaching

strategy that is used by teachers

to facilitate learning. It is a

teacher directed and follows a

definite structure with specific

steps to guide pupils toward

achieving clearly defined learning

outcomes.

The teacher maintains the focus of

control over the instructional process

and monitors pupils’ learning

throughout the process. Benefits of

direct instruction include delivering

large amounts of information in a timely

manner. Also, because this model is

teacher directed, it lends itself to

designing instruction that is

developmentally appropriate to pupils’

ages and stages (Zig Engelmann).

Guiding principles of DI include every

child can learn if we teach him/her carefully

and all teachers can be successful when

given effective programs and instructional

delivery techniques. Thus, ultimately it is the

teacher who is responsible for student

learning; students are not blamed for their

failure to learn. One often hears the

statement, “If the learner hasn’t learned,

the teacher hasn’t taught” in reference to

DI programs and instructional delivery

(Tarver, 1999).

The goal of DI is to “do more in

less time” – accelerating learning by

carefully controlling the features of

curriculum design and instructional

delivery. There are three main

components to the design and

delivery of DI programs. These include:

(a) program design, (b) organization

of instruction, and (c) teacher/student

interactions (Marchand-Martella,

Slocum, & Martella, 2004).

Program design relates to:

(a) careful content analysis that

promotes generalizations (teaching

the “big ideas” of instruction);

(b) clear communication (the “wording

of instruction” as well as how

instruction is sequenced and

examples are introduced);

(c) sequencing of skills (prerequisites

are taught before a strategy is

taught, easy skills are taught before

more difficult skills;

strategies/information likely to be

confused are separated; instances

consistent with a rule are taught

before exceptions

(d) track organization (activity

sequences are targeted that each

skills over multiple lessons to ensure

firm responding).

Organization of instruction centers

on:

(a) instructional grouping (using

flexible skill grouping as

compared to “tracking”);

(b) instructional time (increasing

academic learning time – the

time students are engaged

with high success rates); and

(c) continuous assessment (providing

ongoing in-program assessments

to inform instructional practice).

Teacher-student interactions include:

(a) active student participation

(increasing opportunities for

students to respond and receive

feedback);

(b) unison responding (increasing

students’ responding by having

them chorally respond);

(c) signals (providing a cue to evoke

unison oral responses);

(d) pacing (promoting active student

engagement with brisk teacher

pacing);

(e) teaching to mastery ( ensuring firm

responding over time);

(f) error corrections (minimizing

student errors by carefully

sequencing instructions; when

errors do occur, using careful error

correction procedures – model,

lead, test, retest); and

(g) motivation (enhancing motivation

through high levels of student

success).

A typical DI lesson includes

explicit and carefully sequenced

instruction provided by the teacher

(model) along the frequent

opportunities for students to practice

their skills with teacher delivered

feedback (guided practice) and

then on their own (independent

practice) over time (distributed

practice/review).

Four decades of teaching and

learning research have proven that

coherent unit/lesson design strategies,

systematic instruction, pre – corrective and

corrective routines, high level of

engagement, ongoing formative

assessment, re – teaching, acceleration

and re – testing routines – in – combination

–predictably and positively impact student

achievement. Action Learning Systems has

designed and developed a proven system

for instructional design and delivery.

Called Direct Interactive Instruction, or

DII, this is the single most efficient, effective,

and research – based approach to closing

the achievement gap. DII strategies guide

the teachers to disaggregate and

sequence even the most difficult concepts

at the highest levels of cognition and

achieve a high success rate with all

students. DII delivers a comprehensive

schema for teachers, coaches and

principals to ensure every student is

interacting with content from bell to bell.

Direct Interactive Instruction

involves consistent, persistent, and

creative application of four

competencies:

(1) Standards and Measurable

Objectives;

(2) Lesson Structure and Sequence;

(3) Student Engagement, Feedback,

and Correctives;

(4) Proactive Classroom Management.

In 1970’s a study was conducted with

Direct Instruction as the model – the Project

Follow Through. This was the largest

educational study ever done, costing over

$600 million, and covering 79,000 children in

180 communities. This project examined a

variety of programs and educational

philosophies to learn how to improve

education of disadvantaged children in

grades K-3. (It was launched in response to

the observation that Head Start children

were losing the advantages from Head Start

by third grade).

Desired positive outcomes

included basic skills, cognitive skills,

(“higher order thinking”)and affective

gains (self-esteem). The various

programs studied could be grouped

into the three classes described above

(Basic Skill, Cognitive-Conceptual, and

Affective-Cognitive).

The program that gave the best

results in general was true Direct

Instruction, a subset of Basic Skills. The other

program types, which closely resemble

today’s educational strategies (having

labels like “holistic,” “student-centered

learning,” learning to learn,” “active

learning,” cooperative education,” and

“whole language”) were inferior. Students

receiving Direct Instruction did better than

those in all programs when tested in

reading, arithmetic, spelling, and

language.

Contrary to common

assumptions, Direct Instruction

improved cognitive skills

dramatically relative to the

control groups and also showed

the highest improvement in self-

esteem scores compared to

control groups.

Darch (1984) conducted a study to

examine the effectiveness of a method that

teaches fourth graders to translate word

story problems into mathematical equation

form in a step-by-step explicit manner that

closely paralleled the Direct Instruction

Follow Through programs. This method was

compared to a method developed from a

composite of four basal arithmetic texts

adopted for use in the Site of Oregon. Post

test results indicated a significant positive

effect for the explicit model.

Stage 3 - ACT

Before writing a plan, a teacher must

first understand fully what the competency

is all about. He must analyze and visualize

what he wants his pupils to do after the

discussion. If he clearly sees what the pupils

are expected to do after, then, lesson plan

writing comes in. The teacher must not

deviate from what is expected to do so

pupils will not be confused and feel bored.

That was the first step.

The second step was to make lesson

plans using DII (Direct Interactive Instruction)

as the model and following the K to 12

competency (Competency + Assessment +

Activity). It has four learning episodes which

emphasizes on the use of small-group, face to

face instruction by teachers using are fully

articulated lessons in which the skills are

broken down into small units, sequenced

deliberately, and taught explicitly. And then,

the Filipino Supervisor checked the lesson

plans which were further evaluated and

checked by the SDS.

After the thorough evaluation of

my lesson plans, I taught it in my

Grade II – GT/SSES class with the

presence of my principal and Filipino

Supervisor. I monitored and evaluated

the pupils’ performance by giving

them daily quizzes, summative and

periodic tests recorded their scores

and computed the mastery levels.

I also observed and

monitored their behaviors and

wrote it in my daily reflections. I

measured the learning changes

of my pupils before and after TMDI

was through a survey.

Result

To determine the development of

the pupils’ performance is the increase

of their mastery levels in the fourth

periodic test and daily quizzes.

The graph shows that in the First

Grading Period, the mastery level was

81%, Second Grading Period, the

mastery level was 82%, Third Grading

Period, and the mastery level was 86%,

although all scores is above the

standard mastery level which is 75%,

but for my section which is considered

the first section in Grade II in our

school, those scores were still low.

And in the Fourth Grading

Period, when TMDI was used in

their class, the mastery level was

92% which is above the standard

mastery level and above 90%. A

vivid evidence that TMDI was

really an effective strategy in

teaching Filipino.

Summary of the Teacher’s Observation of the

Pupils’ Behavior Before and After TMDI was

used in Teaching Filipino II.

Before TMDI was used, I was

undecided and did not strongly

agree if my pupils show some of

the behaviors expressed in the

indicators. But, after using the

TMDI, I strongly agree that my

pupils are motivated to learn.

They worked happily and

efficiently with other pupils during

the Guided Practice and in all

activities in the class. They showed a

healthy competition in their

formative test since they knew

already on how they will be

evaluated because I always

informed them on how they will be

tested before the class starts.

Everybody was enthusiastic to

present their ideas to the class. They

reflect on their process of achieving their

goals, use feedback from me and from

their peers. They also changed and

adapted strategies that are

unsuccessful, monitored their goals, they

can articulate of what is expected from

them. They also give constructive

feedback to their peers and change

versions of their work to improve them.

Based on the result of the study, I

concluded that the use of

Transactional Model of Direct

Instruction in teaching Filipino II has

increased the pupils’ test scores and

mastery level in the periodic test and

has enhanced the behavior and skills

of the pupils in the teaching-learning

process, and in their whole being.

Reflection:

Education is a process of bringing

desirable changes in the behavior of

human beings. It can also be defined as

the process of imparting or acquiring

knowledge and habits through

instruction. The most important objective

of educational process is to transfer

knowledge to the next generation

(Gedler,2001).

It is now widely recognized that

the most important factors in

teaching effectiveness are the

interaction with students, the

knowledge and personality of the

teacher. It is the job of teachers to

understand and identify barriers to

learning, to remove those barriers and

to bring the best output of those they

educate (Bloom,1998).

In order to teach effectively, the

teacher must have sufficient knowledge

about the students, in addition to the

knowledge about the subject and

appropriate methods of teaching. Modern

research indicates that if proper and

suitable methods and techniques are used,

even the students of normal intelligence

can easily learn. It is the teacher’s

responsibility to see that the lessons get

taught in such a manner that the child-

related goals are met.

For the solution of these individual

differences and for the better results

from the learners, four teaching model

have been developed, namely direct

instruction, cooperative learning,

mastery learning and problem-based

instruction. One of which was examined

thoroughly and introduced to us by our

sharp-witted leader, Dr. Agustines E.

Cepe; Transactional Model of Direct

Instruction.

Comparison between TMDI and the

Different Approaches used by the

teachers before:

• Lively and stimulating approach

• Teacher directed, as needed.

• Setting objectives, informing

learners of the objectives

• Activating prior knowledge.

Activating motivation, directing

attention.

• Sequenced instruction

• Dependent and independent

practice, providing learning

guidance, more practices and

homework if necessary.

• Activities that focus on specific skills.

Providing feedback, reinforcing,

eliciting performance, using pauses

and praise strategy.

Next Step

Use Transactional Model of Direct

Instruction in designing for another

subject area in the first, second and

third grading periods.

Bibliography

(Educational Philosophies; A Primer for Parents, Milwaukee:

PRESS(Parents Raising Educational Standards in Schools),

1995

Stebbins, L/B., St. Pierre, E.C. Proper Education as

Experimentation: A Plannede Variation Model, Volume

IV-A, an Evaluation of Follow Through. Abt. Associates,

Cambridge, MA, 1977.

Meyer, L.A. Long – Term academic effects of the Direct

Instruction Project Follow Through. Elementary School

Journal. 84:380-304 (1984)

Research on Direct Instruction by Gary Adams and

Siegfried Engelmann, 1995

Thank you for listening

and

May God bless us all!